ActBlue, the Democratic Fund-Raising Powerhouse, Faces Internal Chaos
ActBlue, the online fund-raising organization that powers Democratic candidates, has plunged into turmoil, with at least seven senior officials resigning late last month and a remaining lawyer suggesting he faced internal retaliation.
The departures from ActBlue, which helps raise money for Democrats running for office at all levels of government, come as the group is under investigation by congressional Republicans. They have advanced legislation that some Democrats warn could be used to debilitate what is the party’s leading fund-raising operation.
The exodus has set off deep concerns about ActBlue’s future. Last week, two unions representing the group’s workers sent a blistering letter to ActBlue’s board of directors that listed the seven officials who had left. The letter described an “alarming pattern” of departures that was “eroding our confidence in the stability of the organization.”
What prompted so many longtime ActBlue officials to leave is not clear — none of the former officials agreed to be interviewed on the record.
“Like many organizations, as we undergo some transition heading into this new election cycle, we are focused on ensuring we have a strong team in place,” said Megan Hughes, an ActBlue spokeswoman. “We greatly appreciate the contributions of our incredible team members and remain deeply committed to the success of our organization and our mission to enable grass-roots supporters to make their voices heard.”
According to the letter from the ActBlue unions, which has not been previously reported and was confirmed as authentic by three people briefed on its contents, the senior staff departures began on Feb. 21. That day, ActBlue’s customer service and partnerships directors, who had both worked at the group for more than a decade, left, according to the unions’ letter.
“Now, my primary mission is rest,” Alyssa Twomey, ActBlue’s departing vice president for customer service,
wrote on social media. “After 14+ years of living and breathing all things ActBlue, it’s time for a reset. I’m taking an intentional pause before setting course for my next adventure.”
The next week, several other senior officials left, including the associate general counsel — who was the highest-ranking legal officer at ActBlue — the assistant research director, a human resources official, the chief revenue officer and an engineer who had spent 16 years building and maintaining the electronic pipes through which the group’s donations flow.
As these people left, Zain Ahmad, who was the last remaining lawyer in the ActBlue general counsel’s office, wrote in an internal Slack message on Feb. 26 that his access to email and other internal platforms had been cut off and that other messages he had posted in Slack had been deleted, according to a screenshot obtained by The New York Times. Mr. Ahmad is now on leave from ActBlue, according to a person briefed on the group’s staffing.
“Please be advised that we have Anti-Retaliation and Whistleblower Policies for a reason,” Mr. Ahmad wrote.
The unions’ letter to the ActBlue board called Mr. Ahmad’s assertions on ActBlue’s Slack platform “unsettling and disturbing, and part of a growing pattern of volatility and toxicity stemming from current leadership.”
Mr. Ahmad did not respond to text messages and phone calls.
The unions asked the board to hire an outside counsel to take “investigatory actions to better understand the current state of the organization and evaluate if our C.E.O. is doing her job in an appropriate, competent and responsible manner.”
ActBlue’s chief executive, Regina Wallace-Jones, did not respond to requests for comment. Ms. Hughes, the spokeswoman for the group, did not comment on Mr. Ahmad’s claims of retaliation or the staff unions’ concern.
If ActBlue were to become severely diminished, Democrats running for offices at all levels of government could face setbacks in their efforts to raise cash. Candidates for offices ranging from school boards and city councils to the presidency rely on the platform for their online fund-raising, while Republicans have spent years trying to catch up.
And while there are some alternative platforms, none have the scale or the reach of ActBlue.
Democrats have for years credited ActBlue with giving them an edge over Republicans by creating a universal and trusted platform for donating. ActBlue, which is based in Somerville, Mass., says it has raised more than $16 billion for Democratic candidates and causes since its founding in 2004.
In recent weeks, congressional Republicans have demanded answers from ActBlue about its security and fraud-prevention measures, as well as how the group prevents certain foreign donors from illegally contributing to candidates. The letter from the ActBlue unions warned that the group was “under increasing scrutiny” and “the target of bad-faith political attacks at the hands of ill-intentioned operators.”
On Feb. 6, ActBlue responded to Republican congressional inquiries with a three-page letter, sent from the law firm Covington & Burling, to “provide an update regarding ActBlue’s security, fraud prevention measures and related procedures.”
Some Democrats fear that Republicans, who now control Congress and the White House, will seek to shut down ActBlue. These Democrats worry that the scrutiny of the fund-raising platform is just an opening salvo in a larger campaign to dismantle and destabilize the broader Democratic infrastructure.
Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, last month threatened to make another company that owns key Democratic and progressive tech infrastructure, Bonterra,
the target of his first subpoena as chairman of the Commerce Committee. But he said on Wednesday that the company had made a good-faith effort to comply with his document requests.
At the same time, relations between ActBlue and some major Democratic campaigns and committees have been rocky in recent years. In 2023, President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s re-election campaign engaged in tense negotiations about the rates that ActBlue would charge to use its platform before an agreement was reached, according to two people involved in the discussions.
The letter from the ActBlue unions expressed particular worry about the departures of staff members who are experts on legal and compliance issues.
“Those of us who work with our legal team in our day-to-day do not have clear direction on how to proceed with our work in their absence,” the unions wrote to the ActBlue board.
